Excerpts from the book, Life Saving Lessons - the diary of a white collar criminal
By Jerome Mayne
"The Day of the Arrest"
December 18, 1998
Oh, my God! I was out to lunch with my old buddy Koski today, bragging about how well my company is doing...
Five minutes later, my cell phone rang again. The guy on the other end identified himself as Bob Canada with
the FBI! The next thing he told me was that he was going to be taking me into custody today...
... two men stepped out and said they were going to take me to FBI Headquarters, downtown Minneapolis.
They had me turn around and put my hands up against the car... They put me in cuffs and sat me in the
backseat of their car.
Everything was going in slow motion.
It was while I was being transported to FBI Headquarters that they explained that I was being charged with
conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. I couldn't for the life of me think of what they
were talking about.
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They took a picture of me holding a sign with my height, weight and birthday printed on it...
I looked around this little jail cell and saw a stainless steel toilet and sink. I realized I was getting dizzy, so I sat
down on a cold, stainless steel platform. I guess this was supposed to be the bed. It looked like a
veterinarian's examination table. I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't know what was going on with
anything. I was afraid that the magistrate had gone home already. I suppose they could’ve kept me in there
overnight.
My name was called and I went up front and center. The United States Federal Magistrate was sitting in his
perch behind the bench. It seemed as though he was 100 feet above me. When he looked down at me, his
little old head eclipsed the United States Seal of Justice, on the wall behind him. He pointed his crooked finger
at me and said, "Jerome Mayne, how do you plead to the fraud charges brought against you by the United
States of America?"
I just about soiled myself. I have never been so intimidated in my entire life. I don't think I'll ever forget those
words...
I pled not guilty. Not as a strategic move or because I had it calculated that way, it's just that I'd seen it so many
times in movies and on TV that it came out automatically. You hardly ever hear people on television say they
are guilty right off the bat.
Those hours were filled with moments I'll never forget.
They let me out on a signature bond...
I went back to my corner office and shut my door. I looked out the window that leads to the inner office — the
pit — and saw my loan officers screwing around. Chris threw a Nerf football at my window. I gave the office
quarterback a smile as I shut my blinds. I sat on my desk for a long time, looking at my file cabinet and my
potted eucalyptus tree. I saw the projected closings for the month sitting on my desk. These guys actually
were doing well for December.
I left the office early, again, and came home. I'm sure that in a few weeks, I'll have a good laugh about this but
right now I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm sure I'll be able to straighten this whole thing out, but what if I
can't? Will I lose my brokers license or get a huge fine? That would ruin me.
It's just so hard to believe that I actually was taken into custody today. Custody — like someone has custody of
a child. Children need to be in the custody of a grown-up because they cannot always be trusted to make good
decisions or act appropriately in society. I am not a child. I am a grown man, president of my own mortgage
company and father of two young boys. Yet I was taken into custody today for the same reason that children
need to be watched. For a few hours today, it was decided by my country that I needed to be kept away from
society.
It's time to chill a couple of bottles of Chardonnay.
Copyright © 2001-2010 Jerome Mayne and Fraudcon, Inc. All rights reserved.